Name: Broad Strokes for March 24, 2017: A Thinx Scandal and Neil Gorsuch Wrap-Up
Uploaded: 2017-03-23
Duration: 4 min 16 s
Description: Thinx period-proof underwear was rocked by a sexual harassment suit while the country watched Neil Gorsuch's confirmation hearing. We've got everything you need to know about both stories right here.

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to Broad Strokes, Fortune's show where we talk about the news that matters to women. So Ann I think we should talk about Thinx this week so So Thinx is a company most people know as the period underwear company. And it has gotten a lot of coverage this week, and none of it good. It's all bad. Mickey Agerwall, who is the founder, and untill recently, the CEO, is Actually being super sexual harassment. So let's talk a little bit about this sexual harassment claim. So this is really different that a lot of the sexual harassment claims we've talked about before here. Often brought by women against men. So basically some of the things that this employees saying happened is that, Agrawal grabbed her breasts. She undressed in front of people. She talked about sex and asked employees about their sex life. She implied that she was open to having sex with employees or having sexual relations or polyamorous relationships. Just a lot of stuff that was wildly inappropriate for the boss to be talking about. I mean, I think this is Important for, an important thing for us to be thinking about sexual harassment in really, in a broader way. Sexual harassments is not always about sex. ya. And in this case specifically, this employee saying she didn't feel like Agerone wanted to have sex with her but like She felt like this was a power dynamic, and a way to sort of control her. And I think that happens not just in cases like this, but more broadly. In other depressing news, there's a study that came out recently that showed that while younger women felt really good about their careers and they wanted to make it to the c- suite, if they didn't make it by a certain age, their ambition dropped way off. Yeah. I thought this was, first of all, it feels true to me. You come into your career, there's all these opportunities. You're excited. And when those things don't play out for you, it's understandable that people's inhibition flag. So for me, this is just a sign that we, and more importantly employers, need to work harder to push women Be on that sort of like middle manager level, and help get them to where they wanna be in their careers. Yeah exactly, and I feel like in certain ways, this is sort of the quantitative evidence of the glass cliff existing. As soon as people sort of almost got up to c suite, but didn't quite get there They felt like giving up. So finally this week, I think we need to talk about Neil Gorsuch, who is a Supreme Court nominee, he is currently in his Senate hearings and we're learning a little bit more about him, although not much. Yes, I think there is a huge question mark over exactly how Neil Gorsuch would rule on women's issues, but one piece of information we do have Is his ruling in the Hobby Lobby case. Hobby Lobby did not want to provide contraception coverage, insurance coverage, to women. He ruled that they had the religious freedom and protection to not have to provide that coverage. Right. And as you said, that's one of the few places where he has actually ruled. He has not ruled on any case related to abortion And so for people who are concerned about Roe versus Wade, that's a obviously huge thing, some people are looking at a book that he wrote about assisted suicide, where he said essentially, no individual should take a human life. And they are reading that as an anti- abortion statement. Right, and another I think people are concerned about is a story. It hasn't been confirmed. Gorsuch denies it. But former law students He has said that in a class he implied heavily that women often take advantage of companies for maternity leave and maternity benefits and then quit. Yea. As you said we don't know if this is true, he has said Said it is not. But he said that in his hearing. Where he was also asked, okay fine. So do you think it's illegal for a company to ask a woman but not a man. Are you planning to have children soon, before you hire them. He would not say it was illegal. He said it's inappropriate. You don't believe it's prohibited? Senator, it sounds like a potential hypothetical case, it might a case for controversy I might have to decide, now I wouldn't wanna pre- judge it sitting here at the confirmation table. I can tell you, it would be inappropriate. Right, and it's a little irrelevant what he thinks is appropriate or not, because he is such a literal interpreter of the law. Ultimately, that's all that's gonna matter. Yeah, well, assuming he's confirmed, we will find out. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have this week on Broad Strokes. Come back next Friday for another episode on fortune. com. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Thinx period-proof underwear was rocked by a sexual harassment suit while the country watched Neil Gorsuch's confirmation hearing. We've got everything you need to know about both stories right here.